Saturday, June 28, 2014

The Waiting Game

BANG! A gun fired in the darkness, it's blinding light illuminating the
inside of a cavernous space. The noise startled a colony of sleeping
bats that took to the air screeching in protest of the loud noise. As the bats receded deeper into the cave, a silence fell. Somewhere a drop of
water landed in a stagnate pool, causing silent ripples to spread out unobserved.

From the darkest shadow, two glowing red eyes opened,
banishing the darkness, but what they revealed was a nightmare come to
life; it's scales shimmered, it's claws gleamed. When it smiled, teeth
like swords glowed in the red light.

On the ground, a bloodied, dismembered corpse
of a man lay twisted and broken. A gun rested in the man's hand; the only
fully intact body part left. The gruesome beast used a broken stalagmite and
pushed the gun away from the man. It's massive jaw broke apart with a sound that drove the bats even further into the cave. The creature's jaw reformed into
a man-sized hole, surrounded by thousands of teeth and an impossibly deep throat. In one gulp the man was devoured, his gun the
only remaining sign of his existence. HICUP the creature blurted, causing something
distasteful to pop into it's mouth. After a moment's thoughtful chew, the beast spit out a bullet in disgust; it landed next to the gun.